Father Geek here with Darius25 and AccSpy to post up their regular Thursday column, Asia-AICN. Buuuut first I've got this for you...
Here's something I saw in the Irish Times this morning as I was eating my corn flakes in my suburban Dublin kitchen.
Just to let you know that (the great) Jackie Chan will begin shooting his next film at the end of July in Ireland.
Directed by Gordon Chan, Highbinders will be an "action comedy with a serious tone" (according to the Times' Michael Dwyer) and will co-star the equally physical (and damn funny) Lee Evans.
Rumour has it that the Sequel to Shanghai Noon will also be shot in this beautiful country.
Ciao for now,
Allrighthorse
Father Geek back with this little bit...
According to Sammo Hung's official website he will be directing the Soul Calibur movie based on the videogame. I don't know if you have already heard this or if it's old news but I thought you might be interested. For more information on the movie click here: Right Now.
Later, Aaron
Father Geek back again with this info of interest to all New York area fans of Asian film...
Asian CineVision (ACV), the internationally recognized Asian American media organization, is proud to present the 24TH ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (AAIFF), the nation's longest running festival devoted to showcasing new and emerging Asian and Asian American cinema, from July 19-28, 2001 at Florence Gould Hall (59th St. and Madison Ave.) in Manhattan.
For 24TH AAIFF ticketing info, visit www.asiancinevision.org or call Asian CineVision at 212.989.1422 or the Florence Gould Hall box office at 212.355.6160.
The 24TH AAIFF will present over 70 films and videos from all over the world, covering an array of genres. From the latest Asian action blockbuster to the newest experimental Asian American indie, the 24TH AAIFF will offer a panorama of cinematic styles and voices as well as filmmaking workshops and panels.
Feature film highlights include: Chan-wook Park's Korean blockbuster
JOINT SECURITY AREA, a special tribute to director Wayne Wang, Johnnie To and
Wai Ka Fai's costume comedy WU YEN, Ron Pulido's acclaimed comedy THE FLIP
SIDE, Robert Altman protégé Abraham Lim's racial drama ROADS & BRIDGES,
Kiyoshi Kurosawa's supernatural thriller CURE and Yongyooth Thongkonthun's
transvestite volleyball comedy THE IRON LADIES.
Now here's the report from Darius25...
Asia-AICN
Hey All. We've been hit hard by the lack of news this past week which
resulted in a pretty short column. Still, AccSpy and I have managed to
cover some stuff, including news of a new expanded version of "Lagaan
(The Tax)", director Anil Sharma's next film, Actor Shahrukh Khan's
upcoming film and "Shaolin Soccer". We also have some new stills from
the audio release of "Dil Chahta Hai (Desires of the Heart)", "Shaolin
Soccer", and "The Legend of Zu". Now here's the latest from Asia.
INDIA
- Rumours state that Aamir Khan is about to make additional changes to his hit film "Lagaan (The Tax)" by increasing its 222 minute running time by another 18 minutes, making it a 4 hr film!! This new cut is being prepared for the eventual DVD release but it is not clear whether it will also be released theatrically. Nonetheless, this is obviously a marketing ploy to slim down the film's financial decline and give it an edge over "Gadar (Revolution)". Both films are running neck-to-neck at the box office, but Gadar is a bigger hit because of its lower declines (especially in Northern India where the popularity of Sunny Deol reigns supreme) and its lower budget. And bad news for you cricket fans, the extra 18 mins are not extended footage of the game but they instead flesh out a little more details on the many characters involved. In other words, more talk less action.
- The Vikram Bhatt film with Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherjee has been tentatively titled "Happy Diwali". I know it's lame, but the producers are stating that it's only a temp title and a more suitable title will be selected shortly. The film was pushed back as Aamir was busy with "Lagaan (The Tax)" but work on this will begin really soon. It is slated to release next Diwali (DUH!!), so sometime in Nov 2002.
- Bobby Deol will star with his father, Dharmendra, for the first time in director Anil Sharma's next film. The Deols (esp. elder son Sunny) were so happy with the financial success of "Gadar (Revolution)" that they have asked Sharma to direct this film. Sunny Deol will help his father produce this film but he is not expected to have a role.
- Actor Jeetendra has quietly launched his next film (as a producer only) without much fanfare on June 25th . This is surprising as his son, Tusshar Kapoor's film is still doing good business at the box-office. This new film will star Tusshar along with Esha Deol (Yes, Sunny and Bobby's sister) and a new actress. It will be directed by Anurag Bose.
- Shahrukh Khan's Dreamz Unlimited is in talks to produce a film which will feature SRK along with Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan. If the deal goes through, this will be the production company's 4th film after "Ashoka the Great" and the untitled Farha Khan film.
- The soundtrack for director Farhan Akhtar's "Dil Chahta Hai (Desires of the Heart)" was released last week and I can safely say that the music is pretty cool. From the tone of the songs, and the stills of the cast, I think that the movie might be a little more "modern" than the usual Bollywood fare. Anyway, here are some stills from the audio release where the stars appeared pretty much in character.
Here's a still with Aamir Khan (left) and Saif Ali Khan (dressed like a hippie!): Just Click Here
Here's a pic with Sonali Kulkarni (left), Preity Zinta (mid) and Akshaye Khanna: Go Here
Here's one with the entire gang (from left) with Aamir, Akshaye, Farhan Akhtar, Preity, Saif, and Sonali:Click Now
CHINA / HK
Here is the weekly column from AccSpy:
- Only one more week until "Shaolin Soccer" opens in HK and audience expectations is at its peak right now. The first Stephen Chow film in two years is depending on lots of CGI, which was done by Centro, the CG creators behind "The Stormriders" and "A Man called Hero". The film also hired action director Tsang Siu-tung to direct the action sequences from the movie. Here's some more pics.
To film the final sequences, the film used only 700 extras to create over 70,000 audience members filling up the stadium. Here's a pic of the audience before the CG effects: Click
Here's one after the CG was done: Click Here
Believe it or not, there's a "Saving Private Ryan"-parody scene in the film: Click
Stephen is in love with a baker (Vikki Zhao) who uses Tai Chi to start a fire and bake: Go Here
- Tsui Hark's "The Legend of Zu" will open on Augest 3rd and two pages of the stills were released from the CGI martial arts epic. The pages can be accessed hereClick Hereand here Click Here. Here's some stills from the above pages.
This pic of Louis Koo in crimson red is fricking cool!! Click Now
Here's a pic of Zhang Ziyi in without any make-up (her character appears without any make-up thoughout the entire film): Click
And here's a FANTASTIC pic of Ekin Cheng (left) and Louis Koo in a Hell-ish background: Just Click
- The last weekend will go down in history as the period when Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng's "Love on a Diet" beat out "Pearl Harbor" at the HKBO. "Love on a Diet" opened with a $10 million grossing in the 4-days period. Opening at a record-breaking 53 theatres, the film is ranked at no.1 and hopes to surpass last year's highest-grossing film "Needing You..." (from the same team of Andy, Sammi and Directors Johnnie To and Wai Kar-fai). "The Mummy Returns" slipped one spot to no.2, earning another $8.5 million cumulating to a total grossing of $26 million in just 11 days. Despite opening with similar collections on the same day ($1.5 million), Pearl Harbor rapidly lost its momentum to compete with "Love on a Diet". On Sunday, the WWII epic grabbed $2 million, approximately one million short from LoaD on the same day. "Pearl Harbor" collected a below-expected $6.63 million in 4 days and ranked at no.3. Sammi Cheng's other romantic comedy, "Fighting for Love", was at no.4 and "Cinema Paradiso-Director's Cut" debuted at no.5.
